Process and apparatus for producing hydrogen



. taining suitable temperatures and a Patented UNITED STAT Feb. l23, 1937 PROCESS AND APPARATUS FOB PRODUCING HYDROGEN Glen D..Bagley,

de W. Erasmus,

bide and Carbon New York Application June 22,

4 Claims.

The invention relates to the production of hydrogen, referring more specically to new and useful apparatus -for hydrocarbons carbons by producing hydrogen from thermally decomposing the latand carbon.

for cracking hydroin a refractory mass vand stored heat to crack the hydroproposals have less successful attempts to of .carbon on the refracvthe carbon as a prod- If the carbon is re- -the heat consumed operation must be replaced in the refractory mass, or by s upplying heat externally. Typical proposals of this nature are rand ger; -Patent 1,276,385t'o'McCourt and contained in Patents 1,265,043; 1,551,235 Ato Brownlee and. Uhlin- Ellis. and

Patent 1,107,926.110 A. IR. Frank.

Several proposals within the refractory mass obtained pyrolytically from and to replace have been made to retain most of the carbon the hydrocarbons,` the heat consumed by the cracking operation by subsequently burning the re.

tained carbon. is to be found in When the proposals tractive; but

An example of -such proposals Patent 179,369to M. H. Strong. only product desired is hydrogen,

of the latter nature are the more atmany` practical difficulties must be overcome if the proposals are to be reduced to commercial practice. and apparatus heretofore proposed are adapted to the control or'variation in of' production of hydrogen,

Por instance, processes not weil the rate tothe control of the purity of hydrogen produced, to the maintenance of suitable temperatures and temperature gradients within the refractory. mass, or to auto- 'matic operation. p'

It is an object of the invention to provide apparatus for producing by the pyrolysis of hydrocarbons hydr gen, carboncarbons, and

nitrogen, carbon monoxide, and saturated hydro-y carbons.

ogen dioxide, and unsaturated hydrocontaining only small amounts of Another object of the invention is to provide a method an for attaining and mainsuitable d means' temperature gradientA for cracking hydrocarbons .'Pyrolytically. Y

These and other objects of the invention .are

Great Neck, an Long Island y signora'by mesne assignments,

substantially free from oxy'` nion Figur l the apparatus d Hendrik W. B. City, N. Y., as- Car.-

Corporation, a corporation of 1933, Serial No. 677,024 (Serial No. 23e-212) attained in the apparatus shown in the accompanying drawing,

e 1 is a diagrammatic representation pf of the invention,

- able apparatus parts and showing suitable con- 5 nections and control valves; and

Figure 2 is a vertical able cracking furnace tion, showing details according The general process employed in shown in Figures 1 and 2 comprises Es PATENT y oFFlcE described herein and in whichindicating suitl cross-section of a suiteto the invenof construction.

the apparatus 1o the steps of i.

passing hydrocarbon gases or vapors over refractory material which is at a temperature suflidown of the 'hydrocarbon into carbon and hydro- 15 Een i so obtained on. the l retaining this carbon within the ,mass of ing and cleaning the hyfractory; removing, cool l ff the supply of hydro- 20 drogen; then fshutting o depositing substantially of the refractory and surface carbons and burning out the deposited carbon -with preheated air where fractory material to crackin by to reheat the reg temperatures; and

repeating the cracking and reheating stages as a quasi-continuous process.

Preferred apparatus for-carry ess is shown'diagrammatically I0 of hydrocarbon gases source example, natural gas or natural vaporized petroleum fractions, or

pressure suicient to ca through the apparatus, pipe I8 and a valve 4I to a or through a pipe top connection 60, scribed in Figure 2.

a blower or pump I I, is 20 and a control valve tion 6I, or through 42 to the top connection GII, nace I2. Flue gases of the process may ffurnace through the and a flue 23, or from connection 6I,

hydrogen may be through the .iiue 23. The

of the furnace 44 and a pipe 2 nace through the connection Hydrogen from either of the pipes 2l or led through a pipe 2 I3 suitably provided with a cooli water outlet 32.

pipe 22. 22 may be 3l and a cooling cooler I3, the coole detail hereinb Air, raised to conducted through. a pipe 43 to the bottom connec- I9 and a control valve 40 of the cracking furfroin the combustion stages removed from the top connection 60, a valve the bottom of the furnace 45 a valve led fromV the top through the connection 6U, a valve bottom of the furl, a valve 45, and a I; or from the bottom ing out this procr- 25 in Figure 1.

or vapors, for

gas fractions', the like, aftV al use the desired flow of gas is conducted through a connection 6I,

i1 and a control valve 40 to a of a cracking a pipe d hydrogen may furnace I2 de-l 3'5 elow withreference to of the 46,

41, and the 5 into a gas cooler ng water inlet From the gas be led through stantlally gas-tight The temperatures attained l of the furnace may be from i600 C. to about 2300 C., `and even higher temperatures may be ing device. cleaner I I, and may be discharged from the syspipe 29, into a gas holder I5 or directly to the vpoint where the hydrogen is to be utilized. A liquid safety-seal I6 may be inserted between the to both of the plates 1| and 12 so as to form a sub- The refractory material 65l is preferably one which has a very high softeningtemperature, weil above 2000 C., which contains no metals or comoxides. because omes contaminated with relatively large amounts oi' carbon monoxide.

The refractorymaterial 65 is preferably'in the form of powder, granules, and lumps.

into portions each containing approximately uniformly sized pieces, the largestl pieces being placed The coarsest l 6 inches in-fdiameter, and the finest material may be dust.

'I'he separation of the refractory lmaterial 65 -lnto graduated sizes decreases the bulk density of the filling; decreases the total weight of the iling to be supported by the furnace; utilizes the superior heat insulating smaller sizes;

tion to shell 64,'

the interstitial carbon-storage capacity ofthe central core a: eliminates the tendency for the small particles to bond the larger particles totions of the furnace.

'I'he refractory within the correct annular space, the mold then pulled up, and the operation repeated until the furnace is filled.

It is advantageous to fold over the successiveto keep the ner material from being blown out of the furnace.

temperature, suitably about 400 lheating blast is reversed.

. -C. t0 2200 .C. in

' cracked from the the combustion products pass out of the furnace through the pipe 2 I tothe flue 23.

Whenzthe top thermocouple 55 reaches a desired predetermined C. to 500 C., the

By using this method of heating, with fre-` quent rev rsals of .blast and with the use of preheated air,

ends of the furnace remain comparatively cool.

By premixing a part or all of the air and fuel, and burning the mixture in the furnace, it is possible to control to some extent the maximum temperature attainable in the furnace, and this expedient may sometimes be used to advantage.

The progressively steeper temperature gradients through the furnace may be used to indicate 'when the furnace is up to temperature. Whenvever'the heating in one direction brings the outlet thermocouple up to a predetermined temperature, the direction of heating is reversed. As the furnace gets hotter the frequency of' reversal is increased, and the temperatures of the outlet and inlet thermocouples just prior to reversal become more nearly equal. the frequency of reversal peratures of the outlet and maybe used as a criterion of ther sufficiency of the length of the heating stage. A few trials will indicate the optimum temperature to be attained in the outlet thermocouple, and the optimum length of time of heating determinable by the above criteria. for any given furnace design and rate of flow of hydrocarbons.

An alternative method of control consists in using one thermocouple, at the bottom of the furnace, and in water-cooling the top of the furnace.

Afew trials will determine the proper frequency v of reversal.

After the furnace is up to cracking temperatures, which usually will be yapproximately 2000 the hottest portions of the furnace, the heating stage is stopped by closing the valves 40, 4I, 42, 43, 45, 46 and 41; and apurging stage is begun by c lo'sing the valve 48 and opening the valves 5I, 44, and 4I. Hydrocarbons are passed through the furnace until the gas issuing throughv the exhaust pipe 21 is hydrogen 'of'a purity which indicates that purging of the interstices of the refractory. material 65 is satisfactorily complete.

When the purging stage is completed, the valve 48 is opened and the valve 5I is closed, whereupon the hydrogen from the cracked hydrocarbons passes into the holderv I5. The carbonl hydrocarbon is the interstices of the refractory material 65. The cracking stage is continued either until the deposited carbon has so choked the furnace that the drop of pressure through the furnace reaches ,an allowable maximum, or until the temperature of the cracking zone has fallen to a point below which cracking to hydrogen and carbon is too incomplete, such temperatures being usually about 1500 C.

At the end of the cracking stage, valves 4I, 44, and 48 are closed, and valves 45 and 43 are opened, so that a blast of preheated air burns carbon as fuel in the center of the furnace, and the combustion products are led'to the flue. Re-

is rapidly attained in the center of the furnace, yet the cool the refractory deposited in4 versals-of blast but no fuel need burning stage provided the furnace cording to the present invention. nace has been brought up to temperature the first time, the process ordinarily is self-sustaining, in that the carbon during the cracking stage is more than sufficient to supply the necessary heat to reheat the refractory. If the rate of flow of hydrocarbons is too slow, some additional fuel may have to be .used during the reheating period.

While in the above description of the cracking stage, the hydrocarbon gas for cracking was introduced through the pipe I8, it may be introduced through the pipe 20 and the screen 58. It is ordinarily necessary to use the pipe IB only when the cold furnaceis being brought up to heat by burning gasland air. However, hydrocarbons are introduced through the screen 68, it will usually be found necessary to waterthe carbon burning period, because the burning of carbon in the. lower part of the furnace will greatly raise the temperature of that part.

It may sometimes be desired to recycle during the cracking period some of the hydrogen product', or a portion of the hydrogen product after further treatment, f or example, an impure fraction resulting from a separation or purification of the hydrogen product. In such a case,

vit will usually be advantageous to introduce the hydrocarbon through the`pipe gen through the screen 68.

If it is noted that the zone of highest temperature within refractory material 65 has moved away from the center of the furnace and is approaching one end of the furnace, the hydrocarbon to be cracked may bezintroduced into the opposite end of the furnace until the hottest portion is again approximately in the center. For example, Aafter the cracking gases have been introduced at eral days, it may be found desirable to introduce the cracking gases at the top of the furnace for several days. More frequent reversals of flow of cracking gases may of course be used.

The air blower "il I, the gas cooler I3, the -gas cleaner I4, the gas holder, an the liquid seal I6, may each be of conventional or known design.

By the use of the apparatus and process of the invention, hydrogen of good commercial purity may be produced. By way of illustration, the following table of data gives analyses Aof the gas produced operation. Higher purities may be and have been obtained. In general, the use of .purer fused magnesia and of longer periods of purging result in'a purerproduct.

IB, and the hydrovGas sample num Analysis oi gas: Percent cem Ox gen 0. 0 0. 0 Carbon diox 0. 4 0.0 Unsaturatcd hydro 0. l 0. n Saturated hydroca 0.5 0.6 Carbon monoxide. 5. 2 3. l Nitrogen 8. 0 2. 5 Hydrogen 85. 8 92. 93. 8

It will be seen that by using a fairly long flushing period, preferably at a low rate of flow of hydrocarbons, hydrogen of very good purity may readily be obtained.

if the the carbon burning 'stage as in the previously described heating stage,

the bottom of the furnacev for sevtion o1' coal. oils, desirable, the hydrogen may before use.

We claim: 1. Process for producing, by pyrolysis of hydrogen substantially' pieces in by pyrolysis of hydrocarbo process, said apparatus comprising a gas-tight substantial] cylindrical metal shell enclosing a reacti 3. Apparatus for the production o! hydrogen through the furnace, forming concentric layers GLEN D. BAGLEY. HENDRIK W. B. n w. ERASMUS. 

